Xiaomi Mijia vs Aqara Window/Door Sensor (Battery Level Reporting)

Hardware Home Automation
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I’m looking into purchasing a Xiaomi HA hub v2 and ive noticed that there are the original and the newer (with Zigbee) Aqara window/door sensors.

I’ve been reading around and seems that the Aqara ones being newer and having Zigbee are the ones to get.

But what I’ve also read is that the Aqara ones dont properly send over the battery level (on a smartthings forum). But couldnt find any info around that for OpenHab.

Can anyone confirm or deny that this is the case as I’d much prefer to get the ones that have Zigbee.

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I have both versions, and battery levels seems to be OK. I’ll find out when battery is completely dead…


3

Hey Ward, thanks for replying.

So are you saying that both versions report the battery level correctly to openhab? i.e in a percentage number

Also im a little overwhelmed with everything, does it make more sense just to buy the Aqara items because they have Zigbee compatibility?

Confused because all the Aqara gear is cheaper than the Original stuff… which is older/without zigbee.

4

Both ‘original’ as Aqara versions are having ZigBee. They are connected to the gateway.
Battery level is indeed in percentage. Currently I have only the ‘original’ one configured. I’l double check the Aqara version this weekend.

5

Thanks appreciate that, looks like they are all on sale right now but just dont know which set of items to pick up (Aqara or original ones)

6

I would go with the newer ones.

I’m not sure whats the difference in funtionality is in the door sensor.
But atleast the temperatur and the body sensors offer more channels.

Body sensor has a lux sensor (illumination)
and as far as i know, the temperature sensors can measure the air pressure.

7

Thanks for that, I suppose I will go with the Aqara sensors for everything then. Im assuming that the battery levels as a percentage are reported for any items that use a battery.

Appreciate it.

8

@Simsal is right, the Aqara versions are newer, should perform better and have extra functionality.

I initialized the Aqara door sensor, and I can comfirm I see the battery level

Left is original, right is Aqara (didn’t entered value for timer)

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Thats awesome @wars !! Thanks so much for confirming this. Looks like the issue is only on the smartthings side with the Aqara sensors.

Will definitely be ordering the Aqara ones, thanks for the insight all!

Now wish me luck on getting this all to work together lol :joy:

10

Hi wars,

Nice work with the Xiaomi sensors!

I have a the Aqara temperature sensor and a Conbee Zigbee USB Stick. I have connected them together but cannot read the battery level using a Rest API (first try).

Can you tell me your setup, meaning the Zigbee Moderator you are using, binding in OH/OH2?

My plan is to by more Xiaomi sensors (e.g. Motion and Light intensity, temperature and door sensors), but this detail is missing and would bring more comfort in my setup.

Thanks!

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@BiroR

I use the binding for OH2 (snapshot version supports more devices: https://openhab.jfrog.io/openhab/libs-pullrequest-local/org/openhab/binding/org.openhab.binding.mihome/2.2.0-SNAPSHOT/)

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Thanks @wars !

Ok,… so you are using the Xiaomi Gateway.

I have just started with OH2, please excuse me if I’m asking stupid questions…

Have you tried to pair different Zigbee Sensors/Light Bulbs/Switches/etc (not from Xiaomi) with the Xiaomi Gateway ? I am asking, because I would not like to have a lot of wireless gateways in my home. At the moment I have Zigbee Conbee Stick to control the Philips Hue Bulbs and Z-wave Stick for my Danfoss Thermostat. It would be not nice to have a second Zigbee Gateway just for Xiaomi…

Thanks a lot! You have been of great help!

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For all Zigbee Xiaomi/Aqara devices you need the Xiaomi gateway. It’s not possible to connect other Zigbee devices to it.
And it’s also not possible to connect Xiaomi devices to other Zigbee gateways.
So if you have different brands, you’ll need different gateways (one of the exceptions is that the Ikea TRÅDFRI lights also work with the Philips Hue gateway)

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Hi @wars ,

Thans for your answer! Indeed Xiaomi sensors do not connect to the Philips Hue Gateway…

… but I have connected the Xiaomi Temperature sensor without any problems to my Conbee Stick and, I also have connected the Philips Hue to it. I have added both in OH2.

Here is my workaround:
Since the deConZ is running a light HTTP server and has a REST API, you can connect to it via a REST Plugin. I used RestMan to connect to it and get my API Key. In openhab I installed the HTTP binding and inserted the following intem:

Number Livingroom_Temperature_NUM “Temperatura [%.1f °C]” (Living, Temperatura_s) { http="<[http:// /api/ /sensors/1:5000:JS(parseXiaomiJSON.js)]" }

Via this link I receive a JSON structure (see below) wich I pase using a simple javascript.

{
“config”: {
“on”: true,
“reachable”: true
},
“ep”: 1,
“etag”: “c15bdb11108d34028d59729ad8e3b3ba”,
“manufacturername”: “LUMI”,
“modelid”: “lumi.weather”,
“name”: “Temperature 1”,
“state”: {
“lastupdated”: “2017-11-24T20:17:41”,
“temperature”: 2079
},
“swversion”: “3000-0001”,
“type”: “ZHATemperature”,
“uniqueid”: “00:15:8d:00:01:ab:3c:95-01-0402”
}

For humidity and pressure, use the same link, but with …link…/sensors/2 and …link…/sensors/3 . To bad that I cannot read the battery level :frowning:

For the Philips Bulbs I have installed the Hue Binding and can see the bulb as a thing… verry simple (also over Rest).

Sadly there is no implementation for the Conbee stick in the Zigbee binding at the moment… but I know that Chris Jackson wanted to implement this…

Thanks again!

15

Sorry to reactivate this old thread, however, I face a similar problem and wanted to know if somebody made progress!?
I’ve managed to add a Xiaomi Aqara Door sensor to Openhab2 using the Zigbee binding (Test build OH2.5) and a Qivicon ZigBee USB stick. It is recognized as an unknown zigbee device, but can be used as a door switch sensor. This is the only channel which is known (item):

Switch Sensor_DoorContactEntry “Türkontakt Haustür” (gZigBee,gSwitches) {channel=“zigbee:device:00000XXX:00XXXXXXXXXXXXX:00XXXXXXXXXXXXXX_1_switch”}

Battery level, etc. are missing. Is it possible to add the missing channels somehow? Any Ideas?

Thanks!

16

@bahrenholz:
Actually, I am stuck at the same point as you. Only difference is I am using a TI Zigbee stick CC2531. Any new ideas?

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Nope, unfortunately not. I was thinking to get the Xiaomi hub, but I’m not sure if this is going to work without talking to external servers. Also, I would like to spare one more hub. I already fighting with a Z-Wave, a Zigbee, a somfy stick and a hue bridge. I would be happy about a solution working with the already existing infrastructure.

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I can’t comment about the zigbee binding but I am using Zigbee2MQTT which lets you use a CC2531 to turn your Pi into a zigbee hub.

I have this setup talking to all my bulbs(Hue, Ikea and INNR) and my Xiaomi mag sensors and buttons.

There’s a post here that I followed to get it all setup.

19

Hi, I’ve moved to zigbee2mqtt and it works very well so far. The only thing I’m concerned about is how I can upgrade the firmware of the zigbee devices. I guess I need always the corresponding gateways, right?